In this episode we are in the kitchen with the wonderful Cherie Denham hearing her top tips, her food influences, all about her family home in Northern Ireland, and the foods she grew up with, and learning some wonderful recipes. I hope you enjoy listening!

Listen to the episode here:

Or on Apple, Podbean, Spotify, Amazon, Google and other platforms.

Below, find the full recipes for the soda farls and vegetarian tart that Cherie made during the podcast recording and watch it all as we filmed it on our YouTube channel.

Roast Aubergine, Basil & Caramelised Cherry Tomato Tart with Rocket & Parmesan Shavings

Serves 8

1 Aubergine, cut into small ½” cubes, fried off, on to kitchen paper

12 cherry tomatoes, halved

Seasoning

Oil to drizzle

250g/9oz ricotta, drained in a sieve

85g/3oz parmesan, grated

55g/2oz gruyere, grated

2 eggs

½ bunch basil, leaves torn

1 packet of ready rolled puff pastry

Method

Preheat oven to 200C/400f/GM6. Aga – baking oven.

Place the tomatoes cut side up on a baking sheet, lined with baking parchment. Season and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for 15-20mins. Turn oven down to 180C/350f/GM4.

Keep the pastry on the paper it came on and place onto a baking sheet.

Mix the ricotta, parmesan, gruyere and eggs in a medium bowl until smooth, then stir in the torn basil leaves. Season.

Spread the ricotta mixture over the pastry leaving a small border around the edge. Press the aubergine and caramelised tomatoes into the ricotta mix.

Bake in the oven or Aga, baking oven, top shelf for 30mins or until the filling is set and the pastry cooked. Remove from the oven and place on a wooden board.

Top with lots of rocket and parmesan shavings, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and season. Serve.

Think Ahead & Helpful Hints

This is great hot or cold and perfect for a picnic.

Don’t dress with the rocket and parmesan shavings until just about to serve.

Cherie’s soda farls

In these soda farls, Cherie used Matthews Cotswold flour organic plain flour, you could also use plain flour, or try white spelt flour, listen to the podcast chat to hear more about these options and your possible alternatives.

400g/14oz plain white flour

1tsp bicarbonate soda

1tsp salt

½ pt buttermilk

85ml/3fl oz water

Method

Sieve the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl. Pour in the buttermilk, gently mixing everything together with a spatula or large cutlery knife. Add the water gradually until you have a soft dough, not too dry and not too sticky. You may not need to add all of the water.

Shape the dough into a ball and then gently roll it with a rolling pin into a circle until just under 1cm thick.

Sprinkle the dough with some extra flour and using a large knife cut the circle into quarters.

Heat a heavy bottomed griddle or frying pan over a medium flame and when hot, place the farls on the pan in a circle shape.  Cook for 5-6 mins on each side until lightly browned.

Stand the farls up on their sides and cook them for 1 min per side and then keep them all warm, wrapped in a clean tea towel or muslin until you’re ready to eat.

A massive thank you to Cherie for welcoming us to her lovely kitchen, and for being truly fabulous! You can find more from Cherie here:

Instagram: @cheriedenhamcooks

TikTok: @cheriedenhamcooks

Youtube: Cherie Denham Cooks

Website: Flavour Passion

The Foodbod Pod is brought to you in partnership with Matthews Cotswold Flour. For the biggest and best range of flours in the UK, visit their site and let the baking fun begin!

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What listeners had to say about our first episode:

“I’ve just listened to Elaine Boddy and David Treadway’s 1st podcast on Podbean, their enthusiastic nature really is contagious, and I cannot wait for the next instalment, thank you for your tips on using the potatoes and the water in your sourdough Elaine, and thank you David for the great tip on saving left over wine and freeze into ice cube tray to use at a later date for future meals. (Actually I think it was your daughter’s idea wasn’t it David 😉) I wish you both all the success for the future, and cannot wait for the next Podcast”

Bald.Baker.Paul, UK

“A very interesting food podcast with Elaine and David. Sharing top notch information on tips from how to use your oven efficiently, what to do with leftover vegetables and how you can use spices to lift flavours in everyday foods. I’m going to make sure I have a jar of tahini in my cupboard at all times. Thanks Elaine!

It’s not just all about sourdough, there’s so much more with more to come including special guests and lots of action in the kitchen. Definitely one to tune in for if you’re a foodie. I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode and I’m really looking forward to the rest of the series.”

Najma, UK